In Hebrews 10, we considered the appeal for believers to persist in faith instead of turning back, despite their sufferings. Chapter 11 serves to show that God has always strengthened those who live by faith. Here in chapter 12, another exhortation about suffering is given: God uses it for our discipline and training. The Hebrew readers had forgotten that the chastening of the Lord was an evidence of His love for them.

Suffering always provides an opportunity for spiritual growth. God does not condone any of the injustice that might seem to cause our suffering; nevertheless, He is able to redeem our struggles, chastening us through them for our benefit. We may not enjoy His correction at the time, but it produces “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (12:11) if we are willing to be trained by it.

Since this is so, let us strengthen our hands! Let us straighten our paths! What benefit is there if we or our fellow brethren are turned aside by our struggles? What blessing is there if lame legs become worse? An atmosphere of weakness, bitterness, or unholiness would certainly be unsuitable for those who have come to Mount Zion, “the city of the living God” (v. 22).

The warnings of the book of Hebrews are intended to reveal all that is false and strengthen all that is true. In similar fashion, the closing appeal of chapter 12 exhorts, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks” (v. 25). Those who are false will not escape His judgment; and we who are true must be willing to heed His voice. We are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, and thus we live in the atmosphere of grace as we serve God with reverence and godly fear.